In early 1886 hundreds of thousands of American workers began joining the Knights of Labor, and on May the 1st took to the streets, demanding universal adoption of the 8-hour day. Chicago was the epicenter of the movement, and its workers had been pleading for this change for months. By the 2nd of May 80,000 workers were on strike. On May 3rd a fight of hundreds of people broke out in front of the business McCormick reaper, between locked-out unionists and scabs who were hired by McCormick. The Chicago police moved in with clubs and guns to restore order, killing four unionists and wounding many others. Angered by the deadly force of the police, a group of eight anarchists, led by August Spies and Albert Parsons, called on workers to arm themselves and participate in a massive protest demonstration in Haymarket Square on the following evening. Only 3,000 peope attended, but near the end of the evening, a still unknown individual threw a bomb that killed seven policemen and injured 67 citizens. Government officials rounded up the eight anarchists who had written speeches for the demonstration and tried them for murder. Though defended by the great Clarence Darrow, Judge Joseph E. Gary imposed the death sentence on seven of them and the eighth was given fifteen years in prison. On the 11th of November, 1887, four, including Parsons and Spies, were hanged, one committed suicide and the sentences of two were commuted from death to life imprisonment. All of the executed advocated armed struggle and violence as revolutionary methods, but their prosecutors found no evidence that any had actually thrown the bomb at Haymarket Square. 250,000 people lined Chicago's streets during Parson's funeral procession to express their outrage at the gross miscarriage of justice. For radicals and trade unionists everywhere, Haymarket became a symbol of the stark inequality and injustice of capitalist society. On June 26, 1893, Governor John P. Altgeld pardoned the three who were in the penitentiary.
Chicago Eight is about rocking and letting others rock in peace, in their respective ways. Helping people to open their eyes to the injustices of our world, and doing what's possible to repair these problems. If you're going to preach you have to act as well.
♥Chic8 + Friends
p.s., fuck the police.
FUCK THE POLICE.
